Christmas in China
"Happy Christmas" is the message above in Chinese!

Christians in China celebrate by lighting their houses with beautiful paper lanterns and decorating their Christmas trees, which they call "Trees of Light," with paper chains, paper flowers, and paper lanterns. Department stores advertise the season with Santa figures that reach three and four stories high.

Chinese Children hang muslin stockings and await a visit from Santa Claus, whom they call Dun Che Lao Ren (dwyn-chuh-lau-oh-run) which means "Christmas Old Man."

There are an estimated four million people in China who are Christian. This is a very small percentage compared to the overall population of the nation. They worship at small churches and in huge cathedrals such as the Nantang Cathedral in Beijing.

Christian missionaries first arrived in in Xian, the ancient capital and cradle of Chinese civilization, in 625.

In 1999, a nativity scene, made from wood and plaster circa A.D. 780, was found on a shadowy wall of a crumbling 1,200-year-old pagoda on the windswept hillside of a Tao monastery near the ancient capital city.

The nativity scene combines Chinese landscape imagery with the reclining figure of the Madonna, according to Martin Palmer, the British scholar who found it. While badly eroded, the towering wall sculpture is clearly not a Chinese creation but a fascinating meld of Eastern and Western spirituality.

Since the vast majority of the Chinese people are not Christian, the main winter festival in China is the Chinese New Year which takes place toward the end of January. Now officially called the "Spring Festival," it is a time when children receive new clothing, eat luxurious meals, receive new toys, and enjoy firecracker displays.

An important aspect of the New Year celebration is the worship of ancestors. Portraits and paintings of ancestors are brought out and hung in the main room of the home.

Motorcycle, ATV & Engine Bearings
It's that Time of Year, Distributors!

Now is the time to contact motorcycle, ATV and engine bearing customers to check inventory levels and find new business. These customers often use 2RS, EMQ and C3 bearings in these sizes:

Spotlight: Jiangsu Province
Population: 74 millionbbb Area: 102,600 Square Kilometers

General Information
The Jiangsu province is home to RBI Wuxi, RBI Trading Company, RBI Technical Center and our mounted bearing facility.

This area of the province is part of the Yangtze River Delta economic region and is the province's economic hub, accounting for 57.26% of Jiangsu's GDP in 2001. The southern Jiangsu area covers 5 cities and counties - Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Nanjing and Zhenjiang.

The economic impact of this area of China is remarkable in many aspects :

• Its GDP accounts for 9.9% of the national total
• Industrial output value is approximately 14% of the national total
• Foreign capital invested accounts for 14.8% of China's total
• Exports value is 10.8% of the national total
• Retail sales value of consumer goods accounts for 7.6% of the national total
• The total investment in fixed assets is about 9% of the national total.
  

Industries and Trade
Jiangsu has a strong heavy industrial sector which accounted for 57.4% of the province's total industrial output in 2001. Among the heavy industries, machinery and equipment is the largest sector which accounted for 32.4% of the province's total industrial output, followed by the petroleum and chemistry industry which accounted for 18.4% of the province's total industrial output.

In recent years, Jiangsu is moving towards the development of new and high technology products such as IT, petrochemical and new medicine. Jiangsu has now become an important IT manufacturing base attracting many Taiwanese and international IT manufacturers for its proximity to Shanghai, but offers cheaper land and labor costs.

Jiangsu also has a strong private sector. The famous economic development model -- Southern Jiangsu model is mainly about private sector economic development, especially in industry development. Production by the private sector (non-state-owned and non-state-holding enterprises) accounted for over 60% of the province's total industrial output. Many indigenous enterprises have also developed strong brand names in their specialized areas and become market leaders in China.

Jiangsu's services sector is expected to grow fast after China's WTO accession and further industrial development. Specific sectors such as the logistics and distribution will be the major areas of development.

Foreign Trade
Total imports and exports amounted to US$51.4 billion in 2001. Manufactured goods accounted for 88.0% and 96.7% of the province's imports and exports respectively.

Export processing trade accounted for 53.0% of exports in 2001. Major exports included machinery, transport equipment, textiles and garments, and electronics. Major export markets included Hong Kong, the US, the EU and Japan.

As a manufacturing base, major imports included machinery, chemicals and related products, instruments and equipment of professional, scientific and control use, and raw material. Major import sources included Taiwan, Japan, Korea, the US and the EU.

Consumer Market
Jiangsu's retail sector is one of the most developed in China. Major foreign-invested retail enterprises that have a presence in Jiangsu include, Wal-Mart from the US, Metro from Germany, Carrefour from France, and China Resources from Hong Kong.

Final Word
A Few Things You Probably Didn't Know About Christmas

Your Chinese Bearing Solution.